The strategy turns negative, however, when firms chasing Wall Street’s rabbit continually set "no-excuses" double-digit growth goals without regard to market realities (multiple competitors driving toward the same goals) or systemic understaffing (the "do more with less" philosophy). Consequently, many corporate leaders are caught up in a ceaseless upward spiral of stress.

Yes, the financial rewards for such success are ample, but the driving motivation is usually not greed, and certainly not job satisfaction – it’s toxic fear. This can often morph into desperation, a dangerous mindset that in turn can spawn imprudent short-term decisions and outright cheating.

It’s unwise and unethical to ignore the business and moral implications of aggressive growth strategies that put executives under unprecedented, unrelenting and unreasonable pressure.

On one level, it’s a matter of values. Work-life balance should be more than a rhetorical ideal. A good company cares about its people. The path to career success should not be littered with the ruins of failed marriages and neglected children.

On another level, it’s long-term self interest. Without an abundant and replenishing pool of talented and committed leaders, no company can succeed for long. The organizations that will pull away in the next decades are those that can attract and retain the best talent because the firms are places where those people want to work – and that’s going to take a lot more than money.

When the Business Race is Rigged

When it comes to sports, every coach and athlete should pursue victory. When it comes to business, every executive should pursue maximum performance.

Victory in sports is easy to measure – it’s about winning games and championships. Maximum performance in business is usually measured in terms of growth in profitability, revenues, and market share.

I understand and strongly identify with a passion for victory in sports and growth in business. Committed coaches and dedicated executives usually perform better than counterparts who are satisfied with smaller goals.

The problem is, many sports and business organizations push the success principle to irrational extremes. It’s one thing to expect leaders to strive mightily for victory and continuous growth; it’s quite another to define success solely in terms of these goals.

Even if a "no-excuses" policy that treats coaches and executives who fall short of performance objectives as failures gets better results, it does so at a huge cost.

Morale – a positive attitude about one’s work and organization – is crucial to stability and sustainable success.

When the pressure to perform creates ceaseless stress and fear, even good and great people get worn down and worn out.

Because most people excel best when they enjoy what they do and derive a sense of worth and achievement from their work, excellence and improvement are much better standards of success than championships or "hitting one’s numbers."

Greyhounds may run faster chasing an uncatchable mechanical rabbit, but smart people withdraw from any race that’s rigged against them.